Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Egmont classics now available as digital comics

Some of the most fondly remembered adventure strips of the 1970s and 1980s are now available as digital downloads from the iTunes store. Egmont's Classic Comics imprint (using the old 1970 Fleetway "fireball" design for its logo) is re-presenting stories from Battle Picture Weekly, Roy of the Rovers, Misty, and Scream for readers with iPhone or iPad devices at very reasonable prices.

Here's the official press release:

EGMONT EXPANDS DIGITAL CLASSIC COMICS OFFERING

A collection of fondly-remembered classic comics is now available digitally

London 13th November 2012 - Egmont UK’s Classic Comics imprint was created to re-publish the wealth of classic comics in their archive.

Four volumes of Roy the Rovers kicked off our e-comic publishing in June this year and now we are excited to announce the launch of further classics on popular comic series from the 70s and 80s.

A fifth Roy of the Rovers has been made available along with publications from Misty and The Thirteenth Floor. From Battle Picture Weekly we will be publishing various strips including Johnny Red, Major Eazy and the ground- breaking Charley’s War. Some of the biggest names in British comics were involved in the creation of these stories, including Pat Mills and John Wagner.

David Riley, Managing Director of Egmont Publishing Group, said: “Roy, Battle, Misty…these are iconic magazines which still have a place in the national consciousness. They deserve to be brought back; their appeal also has the potential to transcend the generation gap and reach an entirely new, younger audience. With the limitless possibilities offered up by digital publishing, there has never been a better time to bring these comics to the fore.”

11 comments:

Until one of them eccentric billionaires rolls along and starts funding great stacks of new, nationally-distributed weeklies, I suppose this is the best we can hope for. At least they're finally doing something with the back catalogue... took long enough, though.

It'd be great to see publishers throw money at print comics again but there are so many hurdles against comics working on the High Street these days. At least digital comics remove the problems created by suppliers, retail giants and poor shelf displays.

My only reservation is that much of this material already exists in book collections, so fans who bought the books aren't likely to buy them again digitally. Hopefully there may be enough new readers to make them viable and will lead to rarer items being published digitally such as early Whizzer & Chips, or Lion strips from the 1970s etc.

Wow. Im happy with this but as you say Lew the strips have already been made more widely available as collected books - and I already have these. I'll be keeping a watch though. It would be nice to see some of the older IPC strips - Janus, Cursitor in this format.

Does this mean that Titan will stop publishing the Charley's War and Johnny Red books?

I think digital is a great way to go, whether it's new or old material. I think the main problem with comics now is the price. I think that if publishers took those savings from printing and distribution and put out cheaper comics then people might be willing to take a punt on more titles. Although, it seems to me that a lot (not all) of publishers just think that it means more profit for them if they sell a digital comic at the same price as a print version. Which seems like madness to me.

Depends on the target age group. I have an iPad but my boys prefer to read paper copy of their comics. Maybe as they get older they will take on e format but not for a while. they simply love being able to pick a comic up from behind the sofa etc. and casually thumb throughout. they do use the ipad but for other things such as cbeebies n youtube.

Though of course any comic that goes digital-only ceases to exist as far as I'm concerned. Though I already own a lifetime's worth of reading (probably), so if "the industry" is determined to "transition" in that direction it will soon see the last of my money.

Next event, ICE2017, on September 9th...

About this blog:

Established in 2006, BLIMEY! is a blog that looks back at classic British comics and promotes current and upcoming titles. Images are copyright their respective publishers and are only used here for review purposes.

The images of comics on my blog are ones I've spent time scanning from my own personal comics collection or, in the case of some current issues, are promotional images sent to me by the publishers. On the rare occasion when I might use an image from another site I always credit the source. If you take images I've scanned to use on your own blog/site it's good manners to show the same courtesy.

No links to sites that indulge in wholesale piracy of comics are tolerated here. If you're a genuine comics fan, support the industry by buying the comics.

About Me

I work as a professional humour comics artist and writer and have been freelancing full time since 1984, creating many characters such as TOM THUG, PETE AND HIS PIMPLE, COMBAT COLIN, BRICKMAN, ROBO-CAPERS, DEREK THE TROLL, SUBURBAN SATANISTS and others.
I've freelanced for IPC, Marvel Comics, Egmont, Panini,D.C. Thomson, and many others, covering the comics field from originated characters to licensed properties, pre-school to adult on comics such as BUSTER, OINK!, BEANO, DANDY, TRANSFORMERS, SONIC THE COMIC, TOXIC, VIZ, CiTV TELLYTOTS, LEGO ADVENTURES, HERMAN HEDNING, SWEET FA, ACTION FORCE, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, RAMPAGE, LUCKY BAG COMIC, SWIFTSURE, WARLOCK, WHITE DWARF, ACES WEEKLY, THE DAREDEVILS, THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL, and many more.
My recent comics work has included:'Team Toxic' for Egmont's TOXIC magazine'Postman Prat', 'Kid Cops' and 'The Dark Newt' for THE DANDY'Rasher', 'Pup Parade', 'Lord Snooty' and 'Ivy the Terrible' for THE BEANO.
'The Daft Dimension' for DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE.